4
B1 Subwoofer
Owner’s Manual
SUBWOOFER PLACEMENT
CONSIDERATIONS
When using subwoofers within the limited confines of a typical home
theater room, the reflections, standing waves and absorptions generated
within the room will create peaks and dips in the bass response that
can vary greatly depending on where the listeners are located in the
room – a listener seated in one location may hear an overabundance of
bass created by a response peak at that location, while another listener
only a few feet away may hear a considerable lack of bass created by a
response dip at that location.
The subwoofers’ locations within the room (along with the room’s
dimensions) also have a profound effect on the creation of these bass
response peaks and dips. Careful subwoofer placement alone cannot
compensate for all bass response peaks and dips throughout a room, but
careful subwoofer placement can eliminate or significantly reduce the
largest response dips.
It is important to reduce response dips throughout the room as much as
possible via proper subwoofer placement because equalization cannot
be used to compensate for large response dips. For example, using
equalization in an attempt to restore a 13dB response dip requires
that the subwoofer amplifier delivers twenty times the power at that
frequency. This can quickly overdrive the subwoofer amplifier into
clipping, which will significantly degrade audio quality.
In almost any room, placing the subwoofers in corners will produce the
fewest large bass response dips and will also produce the most large
bass response peaks.
We strongly recommend that you install multiple subwoofers regardless
of the room’s size. Installing a single subwoofer will result in the least
consistent bass performance throughout the room. Using multiple
subwoofers can cancel some room modes at the various listening
locations, resulting in much more consistent low frequency sound
quality throughout the listening area. Additionally, it is often impossible
to locate a single subwoofer such that large response dips, which
cannot usually be corrected via equalization, are not present. The use of
two or more properly placed subwoofers can almost always eliminate
such dips in response.
PLACING FOUR SUBWOOFERS
When installing four subwoofers, place each one in a room corner. In
rooms with more than four corners, use the four corners closest to the
listening area.
Video Screen
PLACING TWO SUBWOOFERS
Placement of two subwoofers will be determined by your room’s seating
arrangement.
Rooms with a single row of seating
Placing the subwoofers in the two front corners will produce the most
consistent bass performance throughout a single row of seating.
Video Screen
